Superbug Deaths Climb in Britain

[DuctapeFatwa]

Deaths in Britain from an increasingly drug-resistant superbug are 15 times higher than they were a decade ago, according to new figures released Thursday.

Health authorities have become increasingly worried over the past 50 years about the spread of the bacteria, called methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

It is a superbug version of the staph germ, meaning most of the traditional antibiotics no longer work against it.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040226_2238.html

[jus_the_facts]

1. awww seems we've over-extended ourselves with mother nature again....

....all because we're too ignorant to use our science and technology correctly...we've caused nature to rear it's ugly head against us AGAIN...go figure! :eyes:

[Bozita]

2. We are only one antibiotic away from a pandemic and Vancomycin is our ...

... last line of defense.

clip from the article:

Some strains of staph have also acquired resistance to vancomycin, a drug considered the "last line of defense" when all other antibiotics have failed.

[clyrc]

3. My grandmother had MRSA

she caught it in the hospital where she was already dying.

My youngest daughter is in the hospital right now with a staph infection, but she is recovering. While I was staying with her, I read a novel where several times one of the characters mentioned that staph infections are getting harder and harder to treat. Not a good thing to read as you watch your baby's skin peel off of her body.

[xchrom]

4. i'm glad your baby is ok

but that could not have been easy.
many years ago now, my partner, who had aids, died from staph. it's such an ugly disease -- but it got into his brain and there was nothing that could be done.

[Atlant]

5. Read Laurie Garrett's "The Coming Plague".

Or "The Hot Zone".

Atlant